Discusses three books that approach writing assessment from differing perspectives and will help writing program administrators reconsider purposes, anticipate problems, and envision new possibilities for writing evaluation. (HTH)

Proposes that students' problems controlling the rhetorical features of school discourse (inventing a purpose within one's writing that will also serve the external purpose of impressing a grader) are as fundamental to the difficulties of basic writers in college writing as their syntactical and mechanical errors. (SR)

In contrast to traditional practices in reading and writing assessment which focus on fragmented, isolated skills, a holistic approach to assessment is recommended. Children's reading and writing are seen as communicative behaviors which are effectively evaluated through systematic observation as they occur in natural settings. (JW)

Claims "Responsive Teaching" is a useful conferencing procedure which expects writers to evaluate and refine their own writing, and tries not to side-track the self-evaluation once it begins. (MS)

Claims the primary trait scoring method offers an efficient and effective way to grade student papers. Also suggests primary trait scoring can be useful for commenting on rough drafts, and for evaluating assignments throughout the business communication curriculum. (MS)

Asserts that requiring students in feature writing courses to tape record interviews and submit them with their articles improves the quality and accuracy of quotations, as well as overall story quality. (MM)

Describes recent advances in writing analysis and their implications for English as a second language writing instruction. The principal theme emphasized is that text analysis of written products, which complements process-centered research, is needed for an integrated theory of writing. (Author/CB)

Describes how a seventh-grade teacher was able to devise a final examination that both reflected the goals of his process-oriented writing class and met the requirements of his school board. (ARH)

Compares cohesive ties and chains in the good and poor essays of college freshmen. Results indicate that longer chains, greater variety of words, and greater maturity or word choice characterize good writing. (SRT)

Claims that written tests are superior to objective, scan-tron tests in literature, composition, and vocabulary because they require students to think on paper. Describes the following types of in-class written tests and examines the advantages of each: literary essay, topical composition, imitation, brief answer, timed rewrites, and vocabulary…

Claims that the controversy about whether writing is a process or a product is largely unnecessary because writing is clearly both. States that the real argument in the profession regards what constitutes (1) useful research, (2) the tools needed to do it, and (3) the vocabulary within which it should be conducted. (JD)

A study of writing samples and communications course grades of 477 applicants to a quantitatively based undergraduate school of management revealed that students were generally deficient in writing skills. Specific deficiencies included (1) failure to analyze audience or purpose, (2) lack of content, and (3) lack of organization. (CH)

Presents techniques from Writing Across the Curriculum adapted to the foreign language classroom. Strategies for encouraging students to write more effectively in the foreign language are described. The strategies include assigning relevant topics, treating writing as a process, and responding to and evaluating student writing in a more…

Describes the methodology and results of a study of the differences between instructors' evaluations of student papers and the evaluations of other students. The results indicated that instructors and college freshmen use different criteria and stances when judging student work. (HTH)

Points out the disadvantages of checkmark grading. States that many students will not be able to revise their work with the help of only a few symbols on their papers and that students will set their sights as low as the grading system lets them. (EL)